


i want to know you again

by dwreed



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post Season 6, it's a hoot and a half - not, keith winds up at lance's childhood home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 15:52:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15198158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwreed/pseuds/dwreed
Summary: “Question,” Lance said abruptly. “Are you considered missing if you leave but you never tell anyone?”Keith tore his eyes away from the window to look at him. “Why? Are you planning on going missing?”Lance gave him a strained smile in response. Silence.[prompt from Yuisaki]





	i want to know you again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yuisaki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuisaki/gifts).



> i'm trying to get myself back into the swing of writing things. here you go.

Earth is a different experience when Keith isn’t alone out in the desert and looking for some amorphous thing he only dreams about. Earth is different when Keith knows Shiro is safe and sound, when he knows his mom is back at the Garrison helping the Holt’s build them a new castle. Earth is different when he has a mom  _ at all _ , and Earth is different when his view every morning is the beach of Varadero, Cuba, and he wakes up to the smell of freshly made coffee and breakfast. 

 

Thing was, Lance didn’t want him here.  _ Sure,  _ he was acting cordial now that his mom had flicked his ear in response to Lance’s normal jibes at him, but the stinkface Lance had given when Krolia suggested Keith take a break and join Lance (as if they were cool like that? Thanks mom) was stuck in his memory. Keith hadn’t really wanted to go either, but either Coran wasn’t getting his hints that he’d rather do grunt work or Allura really believed him and Lance  _ “team bonding time”  _ would do them any good. 

 

So even though Keith got amazing food every morning and  _ basically  _ a second mom out of the whole deal, it didn’t mean things weren’t awkward. 

 

And Lance didn’t seem like himself either. After a few days of wearing himself out catching up on everything he wanted do (eat garlic knots on the beach, surf with his cousins, salsa with his mom, crack bad jokes with his dad, etc.) Lance just seemed tired, and not in a good way. In the way he’d looked when he’d knocked at Keith’s door at odd hours to confide in him about his doubts, or when Keith saw him staring into blank space when he didn’t know Keith was watching. 

 

It was strange, and Keith didn’t know how to pry without upsetting the careful balance they’d managed to create. So, Keith didn’t pry. He decided distraction would be better. He asked Lance to teach him how to surf, and after a huge blow-out fight where Keith had to defend wanting to learn how to surf (“You drag me to the beach every day! If you leave me on shore one more time I’m destroying your sandcastle.”) he’d finally convinced him. Of course, when Keith picked it up like it was nothing it only enraged Lance even more, but at least Lance was more of himself; grumbling up a storm as he paddled back to shore and dragged his surfboard through the sand angrily. 

 

“I think I’m gonna go back to the Garrison,” Keith mentioned one day while they were sitting in Lance’s room. Lance looked up from where he was filing his nails, eyebrows furrowed. 

 

“Did your mom ask for you?” The fact that Lance didn’t automatically accept it threw Keith off just a little. 

 

“No… I just think I should let you have some alone time with your family.” It was a valid excuse and it was true enough. Of all of the paladins Lance had always been the most visibly homesick, and since they’d gotten there Keith was stuck at his side as a party crasher. Lance gave Keith an expression he couldn’t quite read, and then went back to attending to his nails. 

 

“If that’s your only reason you don’t have to. What are you going to do back at the Garrison? Sit around and fart all day?” 

 

Keith would rather  _ not  _ go back to the Garrison, but with most of the gang there it was the most practical. Keith didn’t really know why he’d given in to coming with Lance anyways. 

 

_ “You’ve never been to the beach before, right? You should go. It’ll be fun.”  _ Pidge had encouraged, and his mom had done the  _ mom  _ thing and agreed, and back then Lance had given him  _ another  _ look he didn’t know how to read. 

 

“I just feel like I’ve overstayed my welcome. Since the moment I got here.” He wasn’t making a jab, or trying to pick a fight. He was truly just being honest, but he expected Lance to snap at him anyways. 

 

Lance didn’t. “You haven’t. I don’t mind you being here.” Not the response Keith was expecting. He couldn’t be blamed if he was gaping just a little bit. Lance studied him for a moment before dropping the nail filer and going for the clear nail polish. The smell wafted grossly through the room, assaulting Keith’s nose. Keith said nothing. “I guess I just don’t always know how to act around you.” Lance didn’t look at him as he said it. 

 

Keith figured that was fair, because he didn’t really know how to act around Lance either. 

 

“But you don’t have to leave or anything. I’ll uh…” Lance glared down at his nails as he painted them, deep in thought. “Sorry, you feel unwelcome. Mama would kill me if she knew you felt like that.” Keith wasn’t sure if Lance was grimacing or smiling, but at least the expression wasn’t as unreadable as before.

 

“It’s fine. It’s not like you actually invited me or anything. I just… ended up here.” Keith tended to just end up  _ anywhere.  _ Foster homes, the Garrison, space, the Blade, a space whale for two weirdly warped years??, and now his “rival’s” childhood home. “I can see why you missed it.” He glanced out the window at the view of the beach, of the colorful houses and the beach umbrellas on the shore. He could hear Lance sigh.

 

“Question,” Lance said abruptly. “Are you considered missing if you leave but you never tell anyone?” 

 

Keith tore his eyes away from the window to look at him. “Why? Are you planning on going missing?” 

 

Lance gave him a strained smile in response. Silence. 

 

Keith can’t help but think he should’ve pried. He should’ve pried even if Lance had yelled at him for it. “Well, you told me so I guess that means you’re not leaving.” He didn’t want to face this conversation, or what it could mean. He didn’t want to face the fact that his heart felt lodged in his throat. 

 

“I didn’t tell you where,” Lance quipped, snarky as always. Keith hated him. 

 

“You say that as if I wouldn’t be able to find you.” 

 

They stared at each other for a long, painful moment. Lance was first to break eye contact, sniffling and going back to his nails. 

 

“You’d have a job to do. Why would you waste time trying to find me?” 

 

Because Voltron needed Lance? Because  _ Keith  _ needed Lance? Because Lance’s  _ family  _ needed Lance? 

 

“In order for a team to work the members have to want to be part of it, right? That’s what Shiro said.” It almost made Keith mad, that Lance was throwing Shiro’s words in his face like that. 

 

“I don’t think you not wanting to be on Team Voltron anymore has anything to do with your proposed disappearance.” Keith went back to looking out the window. 

 

“You say that as if you know me.” Lance scoffed. 

 

“I do.” 

 

He didn’t even bother to look at Lance. He could feel that Lance had gone still, immobile in shock - or anger. It felt more like anger. 

 

“Because last time you tried to leave it was because you didn’t feel good enough but you  _ are.  _ You were then and you still are now. Forcefully ejecting yourself from the situation isn’t going to change the fact that we need you.” 

 

“You guys have Shiro and Matt and Allura. Hell, I bet your  _ dog  _ would be a better paladin than me. Or your mom! Or Romelle. You guys have a full party, you don’t need me.” Lance was trying to laugh it off but Keith  _ knew  _ that was Lance’s crying voice because he’d heard it more than once. 

 

“Okay, maybe we don’t need you,” Keith sighed. Lance sniffled, shuffling restlessly. “But we want you there, so suck it up.” He turned away from the window again. Lance was staring at him with red-rimmed eyes and red cheeks, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his shirt with tears falling down his face. 

 

“You’re awful at pep talks,” Lance snorted. 

 

“Yeah, I know.” Keith fidgeted. He knew now would probably be a good time to hug Lance, but also knew him and Lance weren’t really like that. “Where would you go? If you ‘disappeared’?” 

 

Lance blinked his tears away, and recapped his nail polish. “I dunno. The attic, I guess,” he muttered. Keith’s eyebrows went up. 

 

“The attic?” Here he thought there was some deeper issue and yet… 

 

“I don’t want to leave my family again, man. Come on.” Lance laughed sadly, hugging his knees to his chest. Keith thought about his mom, and his dad, and Shiro, and he got it. 

 

“Yeah, no. I get it.” 

 

After another moment of silence Keith stood up from his perch on the windowsill, wandering over to where Lance was curled up on the floor and taking a seat next to him. The quiet was companionable this time instead of tense. 

 

“Did you come over here so I could do your nails?” Lance muttered, resting his head on Keith’s shoulder. 

 

“No.” Keith objected immediately.

 

“Why? You spent two years on a space whale. I bet they’re super crusty and gross. You probably need it.” 

 

“Normal people don’t need your standard of pampering, Lance.” 

 

“That’s rude to assume  _ I’m  _ the abnormal one.” 

 

“If I let you will you shut up?” 

 

“Buy my silence.” 

 

Keith groaned, shrugging Lance off of his shoulder and turning to offer his hands. “Fine, fine.” 

 

Lance hummed happily and reached for his box of odds and ends, pursing his lips in thought. “I’m painting your nails black.” 

 

“I’m going to kill you.” 

 

“Nah.” 

 

As Lance settled into concentration Keith could see some of him come back into himself, tongue slightly poking out from the corner of his lips and grimacing every time he had to pick up a new tool to fix Keith’s “awful decrepit nails,  _ dios _ ”. 

 

But at least Lance seemed to be feeling more like himself. Still, Keith knew he’d chase after Lance wherever he went. 

**Author's Note:**

> you can yell at me on tumblr [@dwreed](http://dwreed.tumblr.com/) if you want !


End file.
